ELB wrote:I grew up in a small county, registered to vote as soon as I hit 18, and bingo, was on a jury in no time, along with several neighbors and acquaintances. It was a civil trial venued from a big city. When the out of town lawyers asked if anyone in the pool knew anyone else, they were shocked to have 90% of the pool raise their hands. The judge (who knew most of us as well, and was a friend of my family) laughed and told them if they tried to get a jury of strangers, we'd be voir-diring for weeks. The lawyers conferred quickly and decided to press on with us. When selection was done, I knew at least eight of my fellow jurors. Didn't prevent a hung jury tho.
troglodyte wrote:On the other hand, most of the people I have ever sat on a jury with have a hard enough time remembering what went on in the trial much less how I may have answered a question in weeding out process.
seamusTX wrote:This is a non-issue. In most counties, you will be in a room with 50 or so strangers who will not remember your name or anything else that you say. What could they do with any personal information?
I was on a jury with 11 other people for 10 days. We deliberated for two days. Think about what that means (as in Twelve Angry Men). I never saw or heard of them again. I couldn't have told a single one of their names a month later.
(I do remember some of their personalities, and some of the telling points that they made. That was around 1985 -- I don't even remember the year precisely.)
KD5NRH wrote:I don't live in most counties. Last time I was called, I ran out of fingers counting other potential jurors I had gone to school with, worked with, or whose daughters I had failed to get home on time at some point over the years.
Interesting to note how many people there knew each other.
In a small town, you're just not going to get a courtroom full of people who don't know each other.
I grew up in this county, but despite being away more than there for the previous 20 years or so, I knew about half the jury.
One was a nurse and has worked at the hospital with my mom and known me since I was a little kid.
One was the wife of a guy I'd worked with on and off for twenty years.
One was the mother of a girl I graduated high school with and played in the band with.
One was a guy who I've known since I was a kid and whose house I painted when I worked with my granddad doing contractor work.
One was a guy who came in the store I worked in just about every day.
Several of the witnesses were people I recognized from seeing around town.
I grew up going to church with the DA and his family. I know his daughter slightly from school.
During jury selection, there were a lot more people there that I knew. Some I knew well and some only slightly.
The defense attorney was not even from there, but from another little town about 60 miles away. He recognized someone in the pool of potential jurors as someone he'd seen at the last family reunion. It was determined that they were distant cousins.
